In a span of five years, Chrishawndra Matthews' nonprofit, Literacy in the H.O.O.D., has distributed more than 100,000 books to help boost the reading lives of youths, many of them in grade school.
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Chrishawndra Matthews is a one-person literacy campaign working to build strong readers in inner-city Cleveland by celebrating the written word.
“I knew if I began to pass out books in the inner city that children could begin on the path to becoming lifelong learners,” she said. Kelly Clarkson, the singer and talk-show host, provided her with a van to distribute the books, which Matthews gains from donations. She then wondered about other children, especially those who lacked resources. That is when she decided to start the nonprofit.
For Christian Berry, the initiative was able to not only help his daughter read better, but it also allowed her to be exposed to different books.